EMR FACTS

. Use of electronic medical records in Canada more than doubled to 57 per cent in 2012, up from 23 per cent in 2006.

. At 74 per cent, Alberta physicians lead the rest of Canada in their use of electronic medical records, with B.C. physicians second at 70 per cent.

. Canada ranks ninth out of 10 countries in the proportion of primary care physicians who use electronic medical records in their practice.

. Each of the six Canadian provinces that have an EMR adoption rate above 50 per cent have a subsidy program to help fund the conversion to electronic systems among physicians. Those provinces include B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia.

The acquisition, which is due to close March 4, will more than double the number of Canadian doctors using Telus Health’s EMR service and give Telus more than 50 per cent of the market share among doctors who use electronic health records instead of paper charts.

Financial details of the acquisition of MD Practice Software LP, a member of the MD Physician Services Group and a subsidiary of the Canadian Medical Association, were not released. The announcement is the third EMR acquisition for Telus Health, building on earlier acquisitions of the British Columbia-based Wolf Medical Systems and Quebec’s KinLogix.

“We’re very excited about this announcement,” Telus Health president Paul Lepage said in an interview. “It will allow us to become the largest EMR provider in Canada.

“It positions us beautifully in Ontario and frankly it fits beautifully with our strategy.”

In Canada, only 57 per cent of physicians have adopted electronic records, compared to other countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and New Zealand where the adoption rate is 90 per cent and higher.

“With our first two acquisitions we’re sitting at 4,200 and it’s growing organically as we add physicians,” said Lepage. “This jump gets us to 9,000 physicians out of a total market of over 50,000 physicians in Canada.”

While expanding the use of EMR is one part of the company’s strategy, Lepage said the second focus is around collaboration, creating and delivering services across the continuum of care from primary care physicians to hospitals, pharmacies and patients.

“The third step in the strategy is around health outcomes,” Lepage said. “What can we do to improve health outcomes for Canadians?”

Electronic medical records are replacing traditional chicken-scratch doctors’ notes and the sometimes muddled paper system of medical records – in everything from test results to prescriptions – that can see notes misread, files gone astray and the security of personal health records left to the vagaries of faxes, emails and other insecure transmissions.

Telus has invested more than $1 billion in Telus Health over the past five years.

Telus’s expansion into eHealth had personal significance for CEO Darren Entwistle. In 2004, his father Desmond Entwistle, who was being treated for leukemia, was mistakenly given penicillin. He was allergic to the drug and went into severe toxic shock and died six days later.

“We have a CEO who is passionate about what we are doing,” said Lepage.

“We see this as something where a carrier can play a bigger role.

“The level of passion within Telus for Telus Health is very high.”

eHealth technology also has personal impact for Lepage, whose 21-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter both have Type 1 diabetes. He said he sees with his children firsthand the importance of patients being able to take part in monitoring and controlling their chronic diseases.

“In their case, they have been diabetic for 16 years,” he said. “They know best how to manage their chronic disease.

“The point I am trying to make is that people at one point know best about themselves and if we can combine the fact they have better knowledge than anybody about their disease with a strong interaction with a care team, that doesn’t interact once a quarter or even once a month but is continuous, I think we will see huge breakthroughs.”

Lively discourse is the lifeblood of any healthy democracy and The Star encourages readers to engage in robust debates about our stories. But, please, avoid personal attacks and keep your comments respectful and relevant. If you encounter abusive comments, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. The Star is Using Facebook Comments. Visit our FAQ page for more information.